ALLA (WA) News Blog

Jessica Whitham commenced at Ashurst on 29th July. This is a one-year contract to replace Lei Lin while she is on maternity leave. Congratulations, Jessica.

Ruth Bird, the Director of Bodleian Law Library, University of Oxford wrote a great article on the risks of “losing too much as the materialism of ‘value’ replaces the experience of unquantifiable practice and purpose”. This is particularly of interest as many law libraries seek to promote their value and usefulness in a time where constant budget watching often means that libraries are being closed.  The complete article can be found here . ALLA(WA) Committee Member & Immediate Former Past President - Mawghan Elverd Acting Knowledge Manager, Jackson McDonald

It was announced on Wednesday 22nd of July that Paul Allan Tottle has been appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Paul Tottle has been a keen supporter of the Australian Law Librarians Association (WA) – some of you may still remember the session he presented on defamation a few years ago. Whilst he will be sorely missed, the entire firm could not be prouder of Paul. ALLA(WA) wishes to extend a congratulations to Paul Tottle on behalf of all our members.

Cross-posted from ALIAWest's BIBLIA blog As an extension to ALCC copyright PD sessions being held in Perth this month, ALIAWest in partnership with AGIA have organised a session which focuses on copyright issues specific to corporate libraries. Copyright touches on almost all areas of practice in libraries and archives, yet many do not feel confident in dealing with it on a day to day basis. This session will deal with questions such as: When can a corporate library make use of Research & Study provisions? Can a corporate library request interlibrary supply of copies of items? What copyright issues should corporate libraries consider when downloading from the internet? Presenter : Trish Hepworth, ALCC Date : Tuesday 28 July 2015 Time : 7:30am light breakfast, 7:45-9:15am brief presentation followed by scenarios Venue : Kimberley Room, State Library of Western Australia. Early Access via Francis Street (more detailed instructions to follow upon registration) Co...

Today I was reading a blog post called " Visitors and Residents: Useful Social Media in Libraries " by Ned Potter. While much of it was on social media this section particular section stood out to me as being relevant to all librarians: Screw Digital Natives Inspired by Donna I've become quite militant about the whole digital natives thing. It can't be left unchallenged - when people use it uncritically we have to pull them up on it! It's dangerously reductive. There's two major problems with it: firstly anyone who's thought about it for more than a second would agree that age doesn't actually determine technological know-how. How exposed we are to modern tools and computers depends on place of birth, environment growing up, privilege, and other socio-economic factors - we know that. So to assume that students entering University now have a set of skills that they just have (how do you Snapchat? You just Snapchat. Hello to Jason) is to ignore the ...

The Law Society of Western Australia has announced the details of the popular Sir Ronald Wilson Lecture for 2015. For more information about the presentation, plus recordings and papers from past lectures, visit the Law Society's website . 2015 Sir Ronald Wilson Lecture Topic : Protecting the Human Rights of Australians through Anti Terrorism Laws and their Enforcement Presenter : Mr Stephen Smith Date : Wednesday, 5 August 2015 Time: 5.30pm to 7pm Venu e: Central Park Building Theatrette Cost : Free Registrations : Essential at schools@lawsocietywa.asn.au

Those who are on the WAIN mailing list may have already seen this, but for those who don't subscribe. The Future Libraries report has been released and is available from the Arup website . The website states: "Libraries are going through a renaissance, both in terms of the social infrastructure they provide and in terms of a diversification of the services and experiences offered. In corporate environments they are playing an increasingly important role in the provision of collaborate workspace and innovation. In communities they are evolving into hubs for education, health, entertainment and work." "This report brings to light significant trends that will influence the future of public, academic and corporate libraries and outlines the implications on their design, operation and user experience. It is the result of a collective exploration through series of workshop events held in London, Melbourne, San Francisco and Sydney, attended by experts in the design ...

The latest issue of Legal Information Management has been published and contains a number of interesting articles. This issue has a feature article on 2015's favourite topic - the Magna Carta. The article 'Invoking Magna Carta: Locating Information Objects and Meaning in the 13th to 19th Centuries' looks at the context in which the Magna Carta was obtained. It looks at the variety of versions of the charter and the texts and documents which are integral to the history of its interpretation. Additionally, this issue includes a short series of articles on South American Law and Legal Resources: Justice Systems in Latin America: The Challenge of Civil Procedure Reforms Judicial Power in Latin America: a Short Survey Tools for Academic Research on Human Rights in Latin America: the Inter-American Human Rights System The New Civil Procedure Code and the Challenges for the Brazilian Legal Education System Reflections on the Issue of Reproductive Health in Argentina: ...

Librarians may not always wear cardigans (admittedly I'm wearing one as I type this), but our style and grace and general wonderfulness has impacted the fashions of designer Orla Kiely. Orla Keily presented a 'Librarian Chic' fashion collection during London Dashion Week Fall/Winter 2015/16 at The Vinyl Factory Gallery in earlier this year. A gallery of the runway show for the collection is available from The Age. ALLA(WA) Committee Member - Alice Hewitt.  Librarian, Reference and Information Services, Murdoch University. 

Did you know that you can update your membership details on the ALLA website ? To log in, enter your username and password. Your username will be firstnamesurname . (Example, Jane Smith would be janesmith.) You can update any personal information listed in your profile by selecting the link to ‘edit your profile’. This will ensure that ALLA's records are up-to-date. It is vital that your email address in particular is current for you to continue to receive messages about events, news and communications. To find your member number:  Select ‘ALLA Member Directory’ Search for your name in the field provided. Your member ID will be shown next to your name. If you do not know your password, enter your email address in the Forgotten Password box. A password will then be emailed to that address. Note that if you originally registered with ALLA with an email address that no longer works, you won’t be able to retrieve your password. In that case, email membership@alla.as...

News from Curtin University: Mr Peter FitzSimons will present the 2015 John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library Anniversary Lecture on Monday 27 July. The Honourable Julia Gillard, Patron of the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, will give an introduction. Click here for more details and registration information. The event is free, but space is limited.

Below are notes from meeting held regarding the future of the Law Library at the Supreme Court of Western Australia, held in May 2015. The Library Integration Project involves the relocation and integration of the Legal Practice Board Library (Law Library at the Supreme Court of Western Australia) and the Department of Attorney General library. The integrated library will be located at Level 2 of the Old Treasury building  It is scheduled to commence on 1 July 2016. They have deemed a prioritisation of access – in descending order of priority (note that 1, 2. And 3 have 24/7 access) Judiciary and court officers Senior government legal officers DotAG legal officers Practitioners The integrated library collection will comprise of an on-site and off-site collection as there is not enough space to hold both collections in the new office space. The difficulty is determining what must stay on-site. Practitioners will be able to view catalogue information for items in t...

The Hein Blog has a new column called Trends Interactive: A Dialog on Law Libraries and Technology . Topics to be discussed in the column include collection development, service specialisation, staffing, and measuring value. The inaugural column by Michelle Wu (Director of the law Library and Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center) discusses staffing implications as law libraries' service models change in relation to technological developments. Want to contribute to the column? Instructions for submitting are here .

The Australian Law Librarians Association WA Division will hold its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, 28th July 2015, commencing at 5.30 pm at Central Park Theatrette. The agenda is here . Please notify megan.fitzgibbons@uwa.edu.au by Friday, 24th July if you plan to attend. ALLA(WA) members: if you cannot attend, please appoint another member to attend in your place so that we reach quorum. The proxy form is here . The 2014/2015 Committee have organised wine and cheese for attendees after the AGM proceedings. We look forward to seeing you there!